The Earth's Secret - The Rise of the Powers - Book 2

Chapter 1

 I woke up to a thousand different bird songs. For a second, I was blissfully forgetful of my messed up life, a betrayal, and sheer shock. I was swimming in the ocean with a boy with flames in his hair, who was laughing happily and gleefully...

The wind rustled my hair, and I forced myself to open my eyes and look around. My eyes cringed at the sunlight, which seemed almost blue in my room. When I was ready, I sat up in my bed on my 4 story treehouse. I was on the third floor, and I had it all to myself. There were no walls, but a railing of a deck, except for the back of the room, where a small ladder led to the next floor. Opposite the ladder was an opening in the floor where a curving staircase led to another room, which connected to the ground. I could get down easily, due to several ropes and zip lines connecting all of our houses.

But every time I went down, I had to pass through Charlie's room...

No.

In other words, we lived in a treehouse for a house. And I mean 'we' by me, my friends Laura, and Sarah and my pet hawk, Twaken. Twaken had a little perch on my little deck. My room was round, and there were no walls, so it just led out to the deck, where we had a series of ropes and bridges that led to the treehouse next door. The house next door was our plan area slash indoor practice room. Directly from the indoor practice room (which was a floor above the plan room) was a spiral staircase to a secret meeting room that you could access from every house that we had. It was the highest point in our fort. That whole tree had appeared two days ago, but the meeting place had been there since we found the island.

With Charlie...

NO.

On the ground level, there was a stone kitchen that again, had no walls except for the one holding the wood and stone freezer and the water bucket pump, which drew fresh, clean water from the stream that ran right by the kitchen. Besides the kitchen, we had a larger stone patio where there was a boulder in the middle of. We would climb the boulder for fun and exercise every day. On the top was a series of ropes, zip lines, and bridges connecting to the forest (also a newer addition).

Finally, in the center of the meadow that our place was on the side of, there was a stone patio (again) over a fresh pile of dirt. From this point, there was a secret weak part of the patio, where if we were forced to, we could jump on, we would slide down a slide to an underground cavern under a volcano, all of us were powerful there. Mom, a goddess named Haraka, had placed this here. She had given us special clothes that matched our palace, but the only thing that I had changed was the circlet. I found it annoying. Laura was a flight/sky person, so the open crater of the volcano provided a fresh blast of air. Sarah, who was great with the earth, was supplied with a thousand gallons of earth, as we were underground. As for me, the ocean person, the volcano was right near the sea, so I could summon a whole lot of water. I could quench the whole magma lake if I was forced to.

And magma was Charlie's thing...

Gosh, Nicole, keep your mind in check!

We all had different weapons that all of us were partial to. Sarah had found a wooden club that was as strong as steel. It had miniature spikes that popped out when she wanted them to.

Laura had a spear taller than she was- since she flew, she had perfect aim, as she used the winds to control where it landed.

And me. Well, I had just my wand, but I know all kinds of magic that you can only do with a wand. Example? Shooting out steaming water at the enemy. I had learned that one a few days ago. I could do any magic that I wanted to. I had learned tons of spells from books, but I still have plenty more to learn. There are about 5 more books with spells I need to memorize, half on protection and defense. I've gone through at least a book and a half already on combat magic. There are books on meals, building, everyday stuff, and so much more. At least ¾ of my bookshelf is magic related. I just can't wait to get to vaporizing things into the air. I know how to vaporize myself by imagining the heat of a volcano.

CHARLIE...

NICOLE!

Then, I could fly, but only until I got too cold. Then my mist would solidify and I would turn back to human.

Charlie helped you learn that...

I sat up in bed and let out a sob. Charlie had been my best friend, up until 4 days ago. Since we had found the island and discovered that our mother was the goddess Haraka, he had become strange. He had become more taunting and appreciative of more horrible things than I could have ever imagined. But then, he saw his chance- he spotted a ship coming towards the island, and he called us to attention. I was the first to say I wouldn't leave, which I think fired him up. He revealed that he had been working with the spirit of evil who had lived on this island before Haraka had claimed it for her sacred spot. Then the spirit had fled, and from there on, inspired men and women to do horrible things. But the spirit had made a comeback, convincing Charlie to set another era of terror. Charlie had left then, and we had barely saved Sarah from being pulled along.

But when he was leaving, I could have sworn that I saw a flicker of the old Charlie when he looked at me, and he had seemed pleading. But I had sworn to hide that, to focus on protecting my two best friends and the world over my broken feelings.

Word Count: 1054

Total Word Count: 1054