17-year-old Avera Ibori is a girl who has always longed for a life of adventure, but when her father mysteriously vanishes, she gets more of it than she can stand. Thrown into a hidden world of magic, intrigue, corruption, and kings, Avera must choo...
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Avera paced the floors of the house on Mayverch Street until she had thoroughly determined to leave.
"Annetta," she said, calling to the kitchen from the main hall, "I'm going out."
"You're leaving?" Annetta said, surprised. "But you haven't left the house in days. It's good you're getting out, I suppose, but where is it you're off to?"
She grabbed at the doorknoband held it for a moment, biting her lip. "I'm going to the library," she told her.
"The library?" Annetta replied in astonishment. "Why would you ever go there?"
"My father always wanted to take me," she told her, giving a soft reply after a brief silence. "That, and I have some research I need done."
"Avera, darling, your father died when you were still a child. I told you once already this week. You really must stop pretending."
"Ah, right..." Avera said softly, her voice low.
Annetta had been saying things like that, things that didn't make sense, and Avera was becoming increasingly uneasy over it.
'Annetta... ever since my visit to High Palace, she's been...'
"I don't see why you need to go," Annetta went on, unhindered by Avera's thoughts. "You can stay here and use the KLP, use the cerebral link, take a nap if you like. Let it do your research for you. It would be easier."
That was something else Annetta had been doing: always talking about using the KLP, which Avera hadn't been, and discouraging her from leaving the house.
Avera paused, leaning on the metal knob as she pensively wet her lips. "Yes, but I'm in need of a walk," she diplomatically replied. "I've been in too long, like you said."
"Well, alright..." Annetta said, "but wouldn't you like some lunch first?"
Avera's body became tense. This had happened several times when she had tried to leave the house. There was always something, some reason she shouldn't, another excuse to stay inside... forever. "Annetta, I..." she stopped.
'What can I say?' She gripped the knob and turned it, pulling the door open and feeling the sunlight for the first time in days. 'I'm sorry.'
"I'll be back before dinner!" she called back, rushing out the door and pulling it shut hastily behind her.
"Avera!" Annetta was saying, looking to add something more, but it wasn't anything she hadn't already heard.
Freed from the house, Avera made her way through the crowded city streets to the state sanctioned library at the heart of the capital.
The building was tall. It took up only a small amount of space on the city block, but it extended far into the sky as a mighty tower. She looked up at the silver letters marking the elaborately carved entrance:
